The Clearing
by American Outlaw
Summary: Sawyer to his daughter: Dont go into that clearing, people dont come back from that clearing.
1. Chapter 1

-1**Chapter 1: Its Been 5 Years**

Sawyer sat on the long beach, his newly cut hair was blowing in the wind and a stray strand flew into his mouth. The good ole' boy simply brushed it out of his face and continued to look out over the ocean, sighing when he heard the voices of the children coming along the beach from the camp. Aaron and Lilly were once again chasing after poor Walt. The young boy had grown a lot these past years, he was the spitting image of Michael, his father. Just as handsome and just as stubborn.

Sawyer saw the two young children jumping around Walt mimicking Vincent, Walt's dog, they even tried to pull on the fish that Walt carried over his shoulders. Sawyer couldn't help but smile at the scene in front of him but it wasn't fair to Walt, so he called out,

"Lilly! Come here darlin'!" he yelled, a little girl with green eyes and curly brown hair turned towards him, smiled and began to run at him.

"What is it Papa?" she asked, Aaron right behind her, Walt nodded a solemn 'thank you' to Sawyer before passing along with his fish. The little girl jumped on his lap and Aaron sat down next to him, Sawyer talked to them both,

"Now honey, you two need to leave Walt alone. I know that you both like him a real lot but he has work to do sometimes. You two have each other, entertain yourselves why dontcha?" She nodded and the two kids ran off together along the beach, towards camp, thankfully. He watched his daughter go and thought to himself about the last few years, he thought about Kate a lot, but being here in this place gave him plenty of time to think about what once was. A man could easily go crazy here with no memories to occupy his thoughts.

He and Kate had been officially together for mere weeks before she had suspected that she might be pregnant, nine months later out came Lilly. Sawyer loved the little girl, dead set on making sure that he was a better father than his own had been he devoted himself to Kate and their new daughter. The night Walt was returned to their camp was when it all happened.

The Others came into the camp, lighting fires and fuming, screaming something about Walt and his gift, Sawyer had Lilly in his arms and was desperately searching for Kate, what he found was Kate and Jack. The two of them had left earlier in the day for what everyone thought was a button shift, when Sawyer got there he found something that disgusted him. Who knew that a twin bed could hold two full grown people? Well they knew now. Sawyer had left the bunker and he only knew rumors of what happened next.

Kate was found dead in the bottom of the shaft, her throat slit open with a knife, there was blood everywhere. Jack was taken by the others and sacrificed, left hanging on the beach as a warning to the survivors. After his grisly death, Sayid had taken over Jacks place and he and Locke ran the camp in near harmony. Sawyer was left to raise Lilly.

When Sayid and Locke questioned Walt about what had happened with the others he couldn't respond, only rocking back and forth next to his father, muttering incoherently. He hardly ever spoke now either, taking after Mr. Eko, he stayed silent unless he truly had something to say. His life consisted of work, sleep and more work. Michael worried about him but Sawyer knew better, that was the way Walt liked it now.

2 years ago, once Jacks corpse had fallen from the tree, Lilly was walking and Aaron was beating on Charlie's legs for sugarcane the army had been ready. It was a small group of people, including Ana Lucia, Sayid, Locke, Walt, Michael, Jin, Bernard, Libby, Charlie, Mr. Eko, the French lady, Danielle and of course, Sawyer himself. Late one night the group went out of the camp, arming Claire, Sun and Rose with guns to defend themselves if the need arose and they snuck into the Others Home, slaughtering every last one of those bastards they could find.

Sawyer and Sayid were ruthless people, but that was nothing compared to what Sawyer saw Walt do. He walked right up to Zeke and, using a hunting knife, plunged it into the older mans sleeping chest, then sat there with him, watching him die a long, slow and painful death. Michael was horrified with his son and ever since that night, the fear of the others may have been terminated but the fear of Walt was in full swing for some of the adults. A child so young was able to kill so heartlessly it kind of made you shiver. He was only supposed to have been a guide to the camp, not a member of the army itself.

Sawyer shook those thoughts from his head and continued to look out into the horizon, it may have been a boring life but it wasn't too bad. He felt hungry so he decided to head back to the caves and fix he and Lilly something to eat for lunch. The gun in the back of his jeans felt secure against his skin.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The beach was all but abandoned, mainly using it as a day retreat from the cave homes, few people actually lived there. The ones that did were the people who had such strong faith that they would be rescued or the people who had been too lazy to move their tents up and go inland a mile. Sayid was making rounds talking to the beach dwellers about what was going on, plans for the next week and anything else the beloved leader needed to talk about. Finishing his duties here, he headed for the hatch to take a warm shower before going back to the caves.

His feet were moving softly through the forest floor as he glanced around him, the path had been walked so many times that there was now a clear dirt line in the ground that people used to travel on.

His foot kicked a rock and he stopped, thinking he had heard something behind him, He spun around and his eyes began to dart about looking for the source of the mysterious noise. He squinted into the dense trees but his keen eyesight showed him nothing, shrugging it off as a reverberation of the rock Sayid turned once again to head towards the hatch. But that was when it happened again, the whispers.

All around him there were voices but he could see no one, Sayid reached for the gun in the back of his pants only to find that it wasn't there…but something or someone else was. He could feel warm breath was on the back of his neck and someones hand tracing the small of his back, exactly where his weapon had just been, taunting him. The presence moved slightly, he heard the gun click but before he could move, all was black.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sawyer was leaning over the fire outside the tent he and his daughter shared cooking his share of the boar he and Locke had caught earlier in the week. Lilly would be thrilled, she loved the boar her Daddy hunted. Sawyer half expected to see Sayid come over and eat with them like he did on so many occasions, at least ever since Shannon died all those years ago. Sawyer and Sayid had become good friends after Kate died, Sayid was the only person who truly understood how Sawyer felt and they fed off of each other. And besides, Lilly was crazy about her Uncle Sayid.

Around the camp, everything looked normal, Locke was talking with Charlie and Claire, Hurley and Libby were cuddling around a fire (a feat easily done since Hurley lost all of that weight) , Libbys big pregnant belly stretching the fabric on her tank top. Sun and Jin were laughing, Ana Lucia and Eko were sitting in their private tents, sullen and alone as always, Michael walked up to Sawyers fire and sat down on a log, taking over the cooking.

"Have you seen Walt today man?" Michael asked Sawyer, who leaned back and rested against a tree trunk.

He nodded, "Yea, I saw him on the beach earlier. I think he is going on another one of his solitary fishing trips again." He smiled, "The kids were chasing after him again."

Michael laughed, "Of course they were. Speaking of, where are they?" he asked, looking around at the other tents.

"I sent the two of them to get water around the rocks, they should be back any minute. Do you know if Sayid is eating with us tonight?"

"No clue, actually, I don't think anyone has seen him since he went down to the beach this afternoon. He's probably going to spend the night down there."

Sawyer nodded as the kids came around the side of the rocks with a full bucket of fresh water, Locke, who was closest, jumped up and took the bucket from Aaron, Lilly waited for her half. (Charlie made sure that Aaron took it over for his 'lady friend' as everyone in the camp called her when they talked to Aaron.) Lilly sat down on her fathers lap and began to play with his hair, giggling uncontrollably when he acted like it hurt.

Michael looked on as he turned the juicy pieces of meat on the metal spears over the fire, he turned and gave the camp a once over. Smiling when he saw Rose and Bernard enter their camp, hand in hand. Michael nodded to Sawyer to take over cooking before he got up and went to chat with Bernard about life on the beach.

"Hey, whats up?" Michael asked, the two men shaking hands, "How are the beach bunnies doing?" He laughed to himself for the little nickname he had come up with.

Bernard smiled, "Oh fine fine. Sayid came into the camp today and hung out for a little while, we chatted about our tents, boy is he bent on getting rose and I to move up here with everyone else." He laughed, Michael smiled as Sawyer came up to join them. Lilly was contentedly eating her piece of meat and looking at the fire by herself. Sawyer spoke to Bernard,

"And of course Sayid being Sayid I am sure that he uh…. _respected your decision to stay on the beach._" These last words were said in a bit of a sing song voice, Sawyer attempting to mimic Sayid and the impression not going well. Bernard laughed again, "Well of course he was. He said it just before he left camp."

The three men chuckled for a moment before Sawyer stopped, "Wait a minute." he paused and gave Bernard a confused look, "He isn't staying with you guys on the beach tonight?"

Bernard shook his head, "No, we talked for awhile and then he left. I just figured he came back here, have you not seen him?" Sawyer and Michael glanced at each other with worried expressions on their faces before Michael turned to the group surrounding them in their tents and shouted,

"Hey! Has anyone seen Sayid lately?" everyone shook their head no, Sawyer muttered, "Ah shit." under his breath before Sawyer went over to Eko.

"We gotta go Reverend Freaky." He said, his southern brawl slurring his words, Eko, Michael and Sawyer began to walk out of the camp,

"Hey Charlie! Watch Lilly for me will ya?"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

With the torches lit the three men formed a rather scary picture, moving through the forest. Sawyer was leading them to the hatch, hoping that they would find their friend there.

Eko said, "Sawyer? Why are you so worried, maybe he just fell asleep in the hatch, or he went out alone for the night, he has done it before."

"Yea but the problem Freaky, is that even if he does something like that, he always, and I mean always, tells someone. Especially me. It was the system he put in place when Jack died or don't you remember?" Eko said nothing in response and the three of them went on.

When they reached the hatch door they all poured inside and searched the giant room. Sawyer hated this place so he chose to stay near the door while Michael and Eko searched, every time he came here he could see Kates body at the bottom of the shaft, blood everywhere, even though the floor had long been cleaned. Even when Sawyer was sick a few years back, he had refused to rest on the beds in the hatch, he would never touch those sheets. The thought alone made him shiver with revulsion.

After a few minutes, Michael and Eko returned, both turning up nothing. Sawyer was really nervous now, this just wasn't like Sayid to disappear. Michael turned to them and asked,

"What is the possibility that he met Walt along the way and the two of them went on a fishing thing?"

Sawyer ran his hand through his long, dirty hair, "Its possible I guess. I just don't know."

"Sawyer, we killed The Others, if that is what you are worried about. Sayid is a smart man, he can find his way back." Eko told him soothingly, Sawyer sighed,

"I know you're probably right but I have this suspicion that something isn't right, don't you get that Mike?" Michael shook his head,

"No, but how about we go back to the kids and if Sayid isn't back by like, noon tomorrow, we will all go out and look for him alright?"

Sawyer relented, "Okay." he laughed to himself and looked at the other two, "Have I gone completely nuts or what?"

Michael laughed at his friend, "Sometimes I think you two are a little bit umm… unnaturally close."

"Yes, you should just sleep together already."

Sawyer grimaced and threw the nearest object he could grab at Eko, "That is not funny! We are desperate but we haven't exactly reached that point."

"You know," Michael said, "Not that there would be anything wrong with that. I could be one of the best men."

"And I could be the other." Eko said casually before he asked, "Or wait… would I be the maid of honor?" The three men laughed while Sawyer attempted to beat them over the head and headed back out into the jungle, torches ablaze.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sawyer woke bright and early the next morning, stretching his long, lean body as he left his tent, his eyes scanning the camp for signs of Sayid. It didn't look as though he was back yet, Sawyer frowned, but he had agreed not to freak out until at least noon, so for now, he waited and went about his normal routine. Lilly woke up soon after him and went to the pool to clean up before breakfast, Michael was cooking this morning so Sawyer took it easy.

Eko came over and sat with Sawyer while he played with Lilly, From the suns position they guessed it was about 10 in the morning. When all three men were eating their morning meals and Lilly had run off to swim with Aaron, Walt walked into the camp and took a seat next to his father.

"I am guessing that Sayid ain't with your boy Mike."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sayid woke up, groggy and disoriented, everything was dark. He blinked and some of the fuzzy feeling left his eyes but everything was still dark, a door opened and then closed on his right but he still couldn't see anything. It took him a moment to realize that he had a blindfold on his face, he reached to pull it off but his hands were tied.

"Where am I?" he asked into the darkness.

"Welcome to The Clearing Sayid."

**TBC**

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Disclaimer: However much I would like to own Sawyer and Sayid and have them in my basement for my own enjoyment. I own none of these characters and do not benefit in any way from this story. Just comments, so do it bitches!


	2. Lara And Kayle

-1**Review Responses:**

Peyton and Cria- Don't give EVERYTHING away, heh heh heh

Eight Ball, Narwain and Steam Rolled, xlostangelx- Thanks for the reviews!

Everyone else, see I am nice to my reviewers! Don't you want me to be nice to you too?

**Chapter 2: Lara and Kayle**

"What is this place?" Sayid asked into the darkness, trying to get feeling into his tied up arms, the thick ropes cut into his skin and he knew blood had to be trickling down from the pressure on his wrists. A woman answered him,

"This is no where you need to know of," she paused, "and I, am no of consequence." The voice was feminine and yet it was awash with power. He could feel the woman's foot against his leg, barely touching him, she knelt down and he could feel her finger tracing along the line of his jaw. Sayid was nervous, but he wouldn't flinch, ever.

Momentarily he sniffed something in the air, he could smell the woman. She had a sweet, alluring scent, he heard her chuckle and she lifted herself off the floor. There was breathing in the corner. Two people besides himself. This was going to be bad. All of his military training was telling him to keep quiet and still, brace himself, but for what he didn't know.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Eko, Sawyer and Locke were setting off to search for Sayid, they packed their backpacks tightly with flashlights, first aid kits and various other supplies they might need for the trek. They started by going along the path that led from the beach to the hatch, silently moving through the foliage, Locke crept along the forest floor looking for any clues he could find. The others stayed silent, watching as the hunter searched for signs of his prey.

They came to a small open area and Locke stopped, "What is it Hoss?" Sawyer asked. Locke stepped backwards and spoke to them,

"Look at that patch of grass right there, its been disturbed more than usual don't you think? And when was the last time it rained here?" he asked, looking at Sawyer, who shrugged. "Its been 3 days but there's a puddle of water right beside the disturbance, Sayid must have dropped his canteen. It looks as though, someone came up behind him, stunned him and then dragged him off." he paused and looked around a moment more, "The trail goes that way."

Heading west, the small party followed Locke into the depths of the jungle. Searching for any clues they could hope to find.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sayid awoke once more, the last thing he had remembered was being hit over the head again, he groaned.

"Oh, good, you're awake at last." A different person, this voice was also feminine but it wasn't the same as the one before, her voice was comforting and warm as opposed to seductive and cold. Sayid felt her hands on his head and the blindfold was pulled off of him. He blinked into the darkness, he was in a small stone room, it looked like an extension of the Hatchs extensive tunnel system but he couldn't be sure.

He turned his eyes to the woman on the floor beside him, she was tiny, maybe 5'3 at most with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was light and on normal circumstances Sayid would have thought her to be quite pretty, but these were not normal circumstances, a woman tying him up and threatening to beat him was not exactly his idea of fun. The woman wouldn't stop smiling at him.

"Hi, I'm Kayle." She said, grinning of course. He didn't say anything, only regarded her with outright suspicion, she gave a sharp intake of air when she saw his head. Reaching her hand up she touched the wound, gently and said to him, "That looks like it must have hurt."

He gave a small laugh and said as sarcastically as he could, "Well I think you should know, you did it didn't you?"

"What?" she asked, she smiled and then laughed, "Oh no that wasn't me, that was Lara. She gets rather angry with me sometimes and unfortunately she took it out on you. Sorry about that."

"Why was she angry with you?" he asked, but before Kayle could answer the door opened again and light streamed into the room, Sayid squinted into the sun and saw a figure standing in the entrance. Her face blacked out, hair streaming around her cheeks she motioned for Kayle to come to her. The woman got off the floor and walked to the other, they spoke in angry whispers for a few moments before Kayle reluctantly left the room. Kayle cast one last look at Sayid before the door closed.

While his eyes readjusted the new woman walked over to him and bent down eyelevel to his position on the floor. She had long, flowing dark hair, fair skin and the bluest eyes he had ever seen, Sayid could smell her and the scent was exhilarating, although he didn't want to admit it. She grinned, her smile was mischievous and her teeth perfectly shaped and white,

"Hello Sayid." she said softly with a hint of danger in her voice. "My name is Lara, you need not be afraid, we wont harm you, we only want to ask you some questions alright?"

"Well forgive me if I don't believe you seeing as how you have tied me up after abducting and beating me." He said with a slight snarl, she sighed and lowered herself into a more comfortable position.

"Yes, the beating part was unfortunate, Desmond gets carried away sometimes even with the simplest of tasks."

"Desmond? As in the hatch's Desmond?" She nodded. "But we haven't seen him in years." Sayid told her.

"That's right, after he ran away he met mine and Kayles father, Zeke, her and I were around 17 years old and our father took care of him. But all those years alone in the hatch were too much for him and he had finally cracked."

"Wait a moment," Sayid interjected, "Zeke was your father, the leader of The Others?"

She nodded in reply, "Two years ago when you and your kind came terrorizing into our camp he had Desmond take us to a safe place. One of your party found us but seeing that we were only young girls, did nothing and let us be."

"Who was it?" Sayid asked as innocently as he could manage, his interrogator instincts kicking in again.

She replied, "He was bald, older than you, and he had a scar along his jaw. Locke, I think was his name. He covered us with leaves and ran off to help everyone else murder people."

Sayid scoffed a little, "You say murder?" She nodded, "You can say murder even though your people are guilty of the same crimes?" Lara didn't say anything, only looked straight into his eyes with no remorse, that said enough to him. He remained silent, Lara reached her hand up to his face and traced along the line of his cheek, against his will he felt a spasm of pleasure run through him.

She laughed, "Been awhile?" He could only glare at her. The door opened and once more, light streamed into the cell, Desmond stood in the doorway,

"They are near Mistress." He told her.

Lara smiled, "Bring them in."

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After about 5 miles hiking through the jungle Sawyer collapsed onto a rock calling out to Locke,

"Wait a minute here, if I don't rest I think I'm gonna die." The three men sat down and tossed around the canteen, taking large gulps from the jug before finally handing it back to Locke.

Eko spoke first, "My question is who could have taken him? There isn't anyone else on the island."

Sawyer nodded in his agreement, "Yea, I know, we all went on that little expedition together remember? All of them were dead when we got through. I don't know who would have been able to get Sayid right out from under our nose like that." He turned to Locke, "Hey John, you got any theories?"

Locke breathed in but before he could reply the three men jumped up and looked into the jungle, a man was standing there, peering at them from behind a large tree. Locke glanced at his companions before calling out, "Hello? Who are you?"

The mans head disappeared behind the tree and they heard him call out, "They have him!"

"Who? Who has him?" Locke pleaded into the forest, but the man only ran away. Locke turned to the others, "It's a trap, clearly, but I don't see any other option than following him do you?"

Sawyer shook his head, "Not off the top of my head and right now I am a bit more concerned with finding Sayid than the three of us getting captured by some weird Tarzan guy. Lets roll."

The three men took off into the jungle following the elusive man until they felt as though their lungs were about to explode and their legs were going to collapse underneath them. When they finally stopped, Eko began to take in his surroundings.

The three of them were in a small clearing, roughly the size of a high school classroom. It was grown over on its borders with trees and weeds, the perfect place to hide from anything, Eko doubted that many animals even ventured into this place. If it wasn't for Sayid, he doubted that he would have even dared to come to this frightening location. His thoughts were interrupted by Lockes voice penetrating the eerie silence.

"Where are you? What have you done with our friend?" He shouted into the open, no reply came at first but then all at once the three men heard someone behind them clear their throat. Sawyer flipped around, his hand wrapped around the gun that was now pointed at two of the most beautiful women any of these men had ever seen. The short blonde stood on the right with a ominous grin on her shining face, while the tall dark haired woman stood with no expression on her face whatsoever. She spoke first,

"You can put that gun down, we mean you no harm." She said in a flat voice to Sawyer, he was less than convinced,

"Oh no harm huh? Did you mean any harm to our friend when you dragged him off through the jungle!" he shouted at her.

She smirked, "Honestly, if we meant him any harm we would have killed him by now. You would have come regardless, isn't that right Locke?"

Locke, who had been standing gaping at the women he saw in utter silence blinked hard and began to shake his head, "This isn't possible." He whispered to himself. Sawyer, with his gun still upon his targets turned towards Locke,

"Uh, John, do you have anything to tell us?" He said nervously, his hands shaking on the trigger of the weapon in his strong hands. Locke broke his contact with the women and spoke aloud, not to any person in particular.

"Lara…Kayle. How, I mean, this is simply impossible." he paused, "How did you survive?"

"We're resourceful?" Lara ventured as she stepped down from the rocks and began to walk towards them, Kayle giggled at the comment but Sawyer was not finding any of this remotely funny.

"Alright lets cut all this nice shit! Where the hell is Sayid? What did you do with him?" Sawyer questioned.

Lara gave a full smile now, getting closer and more menacing by the second, saying nothing. Eko stepped forward and blocked her from the other two, she stopped.

"Give him back to us." Lara and Kayle studied him with confused looks upon their faces, and Kayle shouted to Lara, "He's forward. I like him." Lara laughed and glanced at her little sister.

"Sorry boys. But we are just going to have to keep him a little while longer. We haven't finished with him yet."

"What the hell do you mean finished?" Sawyer said accusingly. Lara rolled her eyes and walked around Eko towards the southerner holding the gun at her face, inches from his face she gently moved the gun away from her and whispered to him.

"He already completed his first job." Sawyer looked confused. She smiled, "He brought you here."

**To Be Continued……..**

_Next Chapter: Back at the beach we see what Claire has been up to and the hunters get a chance to see Sayid again._


End file.
